First Looks… Second Thoughts: SDCC 2016 Movie Trailers

SDCC 2016 is over and there was a metric butt-ton of new movie trailers released into the wild! Here are the Psycho Drive-In All-Stars providing first reactions to the biggest and brightest!

Doctor Strange

There’s a lot to get excited about in the second trailer for Marvel’s Doctor Strange, not the least of which is the magnificent way they are visually representing magic with those fantastic glyphs and symbols manifesting around his hands and as his shield. But I have to admit, I’m not taken AT ALL with the whole kaleidoscope approach to manipulating reality. It’s a little too Inception and a little too far from the Ditko origins of the character.

Also not a big fan of Mads Mikkelsen’s look here. I’m afraid he’s going to be yet another charisma-less villain who won’t really leave an impression. On the other hand, Chiwetel Ejifor’s Baron Mordo is remarkably charismatic and seemingly not at all evil. Go figure. Hopefully it’ll take more than just this film to watch him go rogue and become the arch-nemesis he’s meant to be.

And is it just me, or does all of Cumberbatch’s dialogue sound dubbed? I see his lips moving, but I’m not hearing his voice at all. I can’t tell if that’s good or is going to be too districting to deal with.

— Paul Brian McCoy

Justice League

Is 2017 going to be the year we all start to take Aquaman seriously? Clearly Zack Snyder is taking notes from Geoff Johns, critics, fans, the box office and Ben Affleck. Is the time change going to help the DCEU? Well it can’t hurt.

— Eric Muller

Not gonna lie, I’m terrified by this trailer. It shows all the signs of being juuust polished enough that I can invest my hopes into it, only to be potentially let down by DC once more. From what I can tell, it also shows some signs of desperation — while the DCCU seemed to originally be a valiant struggle to create a shared universe that didn’t resemble the MCU, this trailer is changing things.

We have our Iron Man (the more swaggery, smirk-y Bruce Wayne, who still looks like the coolest thing in this), Hulk (the growling, hulking, rage-y Aquaman, who admittedly looks badass), and Spider-Man (Flash, who, I mean, come on, he’s Spider-Man, look at him) quite easily. Then we have the bizarre amalgamation of Captain America and Thor that is Wonder Woman, and… well, Cyborg, who currently does not appear to have been programmed with a personality. I’d make a Hawkeye joke if Hawkeye hadn’t gotten so much better recently.

Overall it looks equal parts exciting and worrisome. It’s nice that some humor tossed in (though remember that BvS tried to make us think it would have humor too), though the color palette still seems pretty saturated and dry, as it did before. The designs range from wonderfully cool (Batman, Aquaman) to horrifyingly shitty (Flash, Cyborg), to thoroughly unremarkable (Wonder Woman), and the effects, as usual, look very nice.

I think my biggest fear for this is Ezra Miller, who seems to be taking lessons from the Jesse Eisenberg School of Portraying “Modernized” Comic Characters. His self-consciously hammy performance isn’t made any more bearable by his almost unbelievably punchable face.

I’m back and forth on this. I’ll keep my eye on it — but after BvS, DC’s gonna have to be very, very careful with its next move and make sure it wows us. As adequate as this looks, I don’t see any wow-ing so far.

— Alex Wolfe

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Could this be the movie that shows the world that Charlie Hunnam has the ability to helm a movie? It looks like he is bringing a good deal of charisma to his portrayal of Arthur. The movie doesn’t seem like it is faithful to the tale at all, but neither was the 2004 version, and as bad as that movie was, it still had its moments. Ritchie doesn’t do a damn thing for me and the first fifteen seconds of this trailer seem to be out of a different movie. In the end, this trailer is bug nuts with giant elephants, dragons, and what looks to be a straight madman performance from Jude Law.

— Peterson Hill

King Arthur: Power of the Sword (2017), directed by Guy Ritchie, looks to be the first real adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory’s epic tale, Le Morte d’Arthur. King Arthur, played by Sons of Anarchy bad boy, Charlie Hunnam, learns of his true lineage when he removes sword from stone, the bewitched Excalibur. Arthur must avenge the evil Vortigern, who killed his parents and stole his throne. Shot in Wales, England, and Scotland, the film features an interesting cast including Jude Law, Eric Bana, and David Beckham. The trailer for King Arthur features innovative fight scenes, beautiful scenery, and the magic and supernatural elements that so many King Arthur-themed movies lack. The film looks amazing and it’s going to be epic in 3-D.

— Dory Hoffman

Kong: Skull Island

Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Shea Whigham, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, John C. Reilly and John Ortiz in a King Kong film, what could possibly go wrong? A lot, it seems. From the outrageously tall Kong who sadly looks like a creature of pure destruction with no heart, to the pulling of the story into a modern context that feels like Battleship, this looks like a true disaster. However, if it could just be a thrill-a-minute theme park ride, then I could find some enjoyment, just no true love for it. I hope I eat my words and I hope I eat them hard, because I love the 1933 film and the 2005 version.

— Peterson Hill

Great cast. Great look. Legendary Entertainment has a decent track record. But I just can’t get over the scale of Kong. He’s too damn big. At that scale, we lose the heart that makes King Kong special and not just another gigantic monster, indifferent to humanity until it’s eating or stomping on us. This Kong is too big to climb the Empire State Building… or whatever building they might want to have him shimmy up.

Of course, when we finally get King Kong vs Godzilla, I might change my tune. But until then, I’m not digging this.

— Paul Brian McCoy

Suicide Squad

Did they really digitally shrink Harley Quinn’s hot pants? Looks like it. Holy shit is that fucked up. And why is nobody talking about how the Suicide Squad is fighting some weird ashy rock monsters? And what the hell is that blowing up the subway train? Is The Enchantress the big bad of this film, as the rumors say?

Does anybody really give a shit?

Nah, just keep digitally shrinking those hot pants and we’ll line up buy our tickets!

I really want to like this, but I’m having a hard time finding the headspace to file this as a guilty pleasure. So far, Jai Courtney as Boomerang is the only character I really kind of want to like.

— Paul Brian McCoy

Wonder Woman

Gal Gadot. I’ll say that again, Gal Gadot. She is the reason to see this. With almost nothing to do, she turned Diana Prince into a living and breathing character. The trailer seems to be doubling down on the humor and potential chemistry between Gadot and Pine. The visuals look fantastic, reminding me of a cross between the beginning of Thor and the cinema reel pleasures of Captain America: The First Avenger. I’m surprisingly all on board with this take on Wonder Woman, even with DC’s track record recently.

— Peterson Hill

The most important four letter word in Hollywood is tone and this trailer sets the tone for the movie we are going to get: epic and stunning. Gal Godot is proving me wrong and showing she can bring this comic book icon to live. Grab your sword, your shield, and your lasso! This is the movie the DCEU can go to war against the MCU with.

— Eric Muller

Huhm. After such a long time of people comparing Wonder Woman to Thor, it feels strange that the first glance at her flagship movie would look and feel so much more like Captain America. Maybe that’s just all the juicy WWI setting talking. And the fish out of water comedy. And the defensive, shield-focused combat. And the soft, beautiful hair. But it’s probably just me.

Unrecognizable, but nonetheless… provocative villains actually have me looking forward to this, as does the fact that the filmmakers seem to be taking hints from the animated film Justice League: War and Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman, which have been some of the more likeable incarnations of this character to date. If their heads are in the right place, I may be able to look past that grimy, Fallout 3ish green color palette and get pumped up for this girl-power-y action flick.